


Blue Jay

by Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus



Series: Insert a clever Paperhat-related title [3]
Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: A lot of Flug's anxiety and jitteryness is only for a show, And here goes my favourite tag, Gen, HE CANONICALLY HAS SADISTIC TENDENCIES HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ME, He likes being underestimated because it allows him to trick people more easily, Help, I'd tag it as minor character death but hehehehehehehe, I'm having way too much fun with this, M/M, Murder Husbands, Not quite yet - Freeform, Sadistic Flug, THAT'S RIGHT I LOVE THIS TROPE SO MUCH, Torture, semi-graphic torture, some dark shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 07:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12406272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus/pseuds/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus
Summary: A heroine is being imprisoned in Black Hat's manor, waiting for her death sentence. Desperate to survive, she tries to persuade Dr Flug to let her go.It doesn't go as planned.(Also found on my tumblr)





	Blue Jay

Blue Jay, or Jane “Jay” McCarter, stood in the centre of the cage of iron and crackling energy. She tested the bars again, screaming at the top of her lungs, but to no result; her sonic voice had no effect on the electric blue force field. The cage has evidently been designed to dampen her powers.

“Get me out of here, doctor!” she called out in the direction of the scientist on the other side of the room. “I won’t hurt you, I promise!”

The man turned towards her, eyes hidden behind black googles staring into Jay’s. He fiddled nervously with the device he was holding – some kind of remote, probably. Jay couldn’t tell from afar.

“S-sorry, but orders are orders.” He stuttered out. “I’m to keep you contained until Sir Black Hat attends to you personally.”

Oh no.

Jay swallowed. No, no, no! Facing Black Hat in this weakened state was a death sentence! She tried the field again, first screaming and then punching the glowing bars. This proved to be a bad idea, as there was a hiss and a burning pain in her fist. She recoiled with a cry, clutching her hand. The electricity around the bars flickered red for a moment before turning back into blue.

“Please, let me out!” she begged. “Doctor, I’m begging you! Black Hat will kill me!”

The man shuddered, swallowing audibly. “And do you know what he’ll do to me if he finds out that I let you go?” He replied, shaking his head. “No way, Miss Blue Jay. Orders are orders.”

“Okay, listen.” Jay tried to keep her voice calm; this wasn’t getting them anywhere. “You’re called Flug, aren’t you? Look, we can help you. If you let me go, I will gather my friends, other supers, and we’ll bust you out.”

Dr Flug stared at her, shaking. “B… But B-Black Hat…” he managed to stutter out.

“We’ll get you as far away from him as possible.” Jay soothed. Poor sap was obviously terrified, and she couldn’t blame him; after all, who wasn’t afraid of that demon he called boss? “He will never hurt you again, I promise.”

The scientist edged closer hesitantly, looking not unlike some frightened animal. “R…Really? You will protect me?” he asked with a twinge of hope in his voice.

She gave him her best smile. “Yes! Yes we will! You might even help us if you want. I’ve seen your inventions - hell, I’m inside one!” she indicated the cage with a nervous grin. “You’re a genius, and you know Black Hat better than anyone. With your help we might even kill him!” Now she was warming up. “Think about it! No more Black Hat, no more fear, no more mistreatment. They’ll take care of you at the Solar League, just like they took care of me.”

Flug took another step towards her before hesitating. “H-how do I know I can trust you?!” he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Jay sighed wearily, sitting down on the bottom of the cage. “Because I was like you.” She confessed quietly, looking down at her hands. “Well, maybe it wasn’t as bad in your case, but still pretty bad. You see, I discovered my sonic voice when I was a little girl. My… my mom didn’t treat me very well. She yelled a lot. And hit me. Well, one day I was fed up with her and actually yelled back. That…sure did sweep her off her feet. Literally.” she laughed and, to her delight, Flug laughed with her. “After that I ran away and lived on the streets until Stormbringer found me and took me in. She and the rest of the Solar League have taught me everything I know. They’re like my family.” She thought back to Jonathan, the little rookie who was like a brother to her, and how she’ll never see his gap-toothed smile again. “They helped me, just like they can help you.”

Flug was looking at her wordlessly; she couldn’t tell what expression he wore underneath the bag. Eventually, he glanced at the control panel, then back at her.

“Do you promise?” he asked.

“Yes!” Jay nodded enthusiastically, jumping back on her feet. “Flug, I swear on my life that we’ll do our best to keep you safe and happy. You’ll never have to worry about a thing again, scout’s honour.”

“Scout’s honour, huh?” Flug chuckled, approaching the control panel. He pressed a button.

And a surge of pain shot through Jay’s nervous system. She collapsed, muscles twitching from the electric shock.

Flug laughed. “Nice try, scout.” He called out, pressing the button again and releasing another shock.

“N-no! Stop!” Jay could barely speak between the screams. “What are you doing?!”

“He’s toying with you, that’s what.” A dark, sinister voice washed over the room, turning the heroine’s blood into ice. No… No! Anything but…

Black Hat strolled into the room, his coat trailing behind him. He approached the cage, eyeing Jay with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

“Trying to win over my scientist, aren’t you?” he bent down to look into her face. “Naughty.”

“Let me go!” Jay screamed as she tried to get up. “Flug, you don’t have to listen to him! Please! We can help you!”

The scientist was her last chance of survival. If only she could get to him before Black Hat killed her…

Flug merely chuckled at her feeble pleas, all jitteriness and anxiety melting off him in an instant. “I don’t know what’s funnier, Jay.” He shook his head patronizingly. “The thought that I would voluntarily agree to hang out with the likes of you,” he pressed the button for the third time, “or that my boss would allow me to live if I did.”

“That would be enough shocks for now, dear.” Black Hat cooed, placing a hand over Flug’s and gently removing it from over the button. “We have other games in store for her.”

“Of course.” Flug’s grin was almost audible. He turned towards Jay. “I do not need your help.” He said, crouching down to her eye level. “You’ve helped me a lot already. See this?” He yanked up his sleeve, revealing a patchwork of scars and burn marks. “This was Lady Infernia’s doing.”

Jay gasped, edging away in horror. “No!” she cried. “Infernia died fifty five years ago! You’re lying!”

Black Hat laughed. “Oh, we know that she died!” he assured. “Flug here personally oversaw the process.”

Flug nodded enthusiastically, pulling the sleeve back down. “She didn’t last as long as I would’ve liked.” He said, and Jay felt bile rise up to her throat. “Then again, I should’ve known that waterboarding was a bad idea; water beating fire and all that.” He shrugged.

“B…but how?” The story didn’t add up. The scientist looked to be in his mid-twenties; there was no way he would’ve been alive…

“You know what they say,” she could see a fraction of a mad grin peeking from underneath the bag, “Friendship is temporary; blood pacts are forever.”

“Words to live by!” Black Hat patted Flug’s shoulder. “And Flug here has been living by them for a long, looooong time. Isn’t that right?”

The scientist nodded. “One hundred fifty seven years, five months, two weeks and three days.” He recited proudly. “I’m keeping track. Unfortunately, you won’t get to live for even a fraction of that time. Did you really think that I would abandon Black Hat for a snivelling band of do-gooders in technicolour jumpsuits? What fool do you think I am?”

Jay glanced at Black Hat, who seemed to be watching the exchange with amusement, his one visible eye glinting maliciously.

“B…but why?” she asked. “He treats you horribly! I’ve seen the broadcasts – the screaming, the threats, the bruises, the claw marks… Why did you bind your soul to this monster?!”

Flug glanced at his boss, who shook his head. “Not yet.” He said, and the scientist nodded.

“Ah, the broadcasts.” He sighed, his attention returning to Jay. “At least half of our behaviour is nothing but a façade, necessary to keep our evil clientele interested. Besides, who would take a jittery scientist seriously? Nobody, that’s who. They keep underestimating me, you see, and only realise that I’m much more than a tool when they’re stretched on a table with my scalpel between their scapulae.” He adjusted his goggles. “As for Black Hat’s cruelty, what exactly did you expect from a villain? He’s a thousand year old eldritch monstrosity made of shadow and nightmares.”

“And terror.” Black Hat added. “Don’t forget terror.”

“Isn’t terror included in the nightmare bit?” Flug seemed to frown, but shook his head. “Irrelevant. Anyway, what was it you were asking about? Bruises? Claw marks? Oh dear…” He glanced at Black Hat, who gave him the most shameless grin in existence. “That’s classified information, I’m afraid.”

Jay decided that she didn’t want to know.

“But enough about us!” he changed the subject, thankfully. “What about you? You’ve been gracious enough to share your origins story, but how about you tell us more about your, ah, colleagues?”

She spat viciously. “I would rather die than betray my only friends; torture me all you want.”

Black Hat gave Flug a look of mixed fondness and sadistic delight and nodded, making the scientist rub his hands excitedly. “As you wish,” he waved his hand nonchalantly. “Win-win for us.”

~

As predicted, the pitiful girl spilled the beans two hours, twelve minutes and forty seven seconds into the interrogation. Flug was actually impressed by her endurance, and wrote the time down to compare it with that of the other (hehehe) subjects.

“NO, PLEASE, NO MORE!” She wailed, her sonic voice disabled by the collar on her neck. “I’VE ALREADY TOLD YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW. PLEASE LET ME GO. LET ME DIE. I DON’T CARE. JUST STOP.” She was alternating between screams and sobbing.

Demencia tutted, yanking out another fingernail with an evil cackle before bringing down the hot iron to cauterize the wound. “Naughty little birdie,” she wagged her finger as Blue Jay arched her back, another useless scream tearing out of her throat. “Don’t you know that naughty birds get declawed?” She moved on to the other hand. “Thoroughly.”

Black Hat observed the regimen silently, sipping sweet wine from a silvered goblet. Eventually, he got up from his place by Flug’s desk and approached the struggling heroine.

“That’ll be enough, Demencia.” He said, eyes trailing over the multitude of cuts and burns littering Jay’s body. “If you enjoy playing with birds that much, go play with Skylark.”

“Yay! Thanks, boss!” Demencia jumped up excitedly and sprinted towards the door.

 _‘Skylark,’_ Jay broke through the pain clouding her mind to think about her little brother. She hasn’t seen him since that failed raid on the villains’ convention. They all have assumed him dead. _‘He’s alive.’_ That thought was like a cool balsam on her wounds. Jonathan was alive! She could still save him!

“Please, let him go.” She choked out through the tears. “Have me instead. He’s just a kid. A child. Please.”

Flug glanced away from scribbling in his notepad to look at her. “No can do.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Besides, knowing Demencia, I doubt that he’d be able to leave on his own. Maybe if you came here a week or so ago he might’ve still had a chance. Now, though?” He returned to writing. “I’m surprised that Dem hasn’t eviscerated him yet.”

“I have!” Demecia’s voice floated from the hallway. “I’m surprised that he hasn’t kicked the bucket yet!”

 _‘Oh God…’_ Jay turned her head to the side and retched. She wanted to die; to wake up from this nightmare, to see her friends, her brother, her family…

“Kill me.” She croaked through tears. “Please.”

Black Hat quirked his head at her. “Awww, poor thing.” He ran his fingers along her cheek, leaving shallow claw marks. “What do you think, doctor? Shall we grant her last wish?”

Flug tapped his chin with the pencil he was holding. “Hmmmm, not yet.” He decided. “Demencia’s had her fun. Now it’s my turn.”

“Of course, dear.” The eldritch raised the paper bag to give his scientist a tender kiss. “Would you mind if I joined you?”

_This was not happening._

“Oh, not at all!” Flug cooed, licking his lips. “It would be a pleasure, in fact. What shall we start with?”

“Let’s see:” Black Hat began to count on his fingers as he paced around Jay like a cat around a wounded bird. “We had electrocution, burning, shallow cuts, pulling out nails… How about we break her fingers?”

Flug grinned. “I’ll fetch the hammer.”

~

Torture.

Pain.

Pain.

Pain.

Burning.

Pins and needles.

Jay tried to blink, but found that impossible; the duo had removed her eyelids, leaving her eyes defenceless under the onslaught of bright white surgical lamps.

“She’s still breathing.” Black Hat observed, leaning over her. “I must say that I am shocked that she hasn’t had a heart attack or something yet. Human beings are peculiar.”

Flug hummed as he pondered the impressive array of scalpels, saws, tweezers, drills and other nasty miscellanea set out before him. He turned away, sighing in frustration.

“We’ve tried everything!” he complained. “All the tools, that is. I’m running out of ideas!”

Black Hat moved to wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry, dear doctor.” He cooed comfortingly, the fingers on his free hand flexing into claws. “I have an idea.”

“Ooooh?” Flug almost melted at the vile connotations of the sentence. “Yes. Please demonstrate.”

Black Hat gave him another peck on the lips before turning towards Jay. He dug his claws into her forearm and began to extend them.

Jay writhed and whimpered as she felt the demon’s essence expand and dig tunnels in her flesh. Glancing to the side, she screamed when she saw thick black lines crawling along her arm just beneath her skin.

Flug, meanwhile, was overjoyed. “How delightfully morbid!” He exclaimed, reaching for his notepad. “I must record this beauty, definitely! Black Hat, sir, you are the most magnificent creature to ever grace this pitiful universe.”

“Now this,” Black Hat turned back to him, ripping his claws out of Jay’s arm with a spray of blood and a scream from the heroine, “is going to earn you more than just a kiss.” He licked his lips, forked tongue flicking between sharp teeth.

Flug gripped the spiral-bound pad tighter, making a sound between a squeak and a moan.

“A-after we’re done with t-this one.” He managed to stutter out. “I-I’ve had my way with her by now; she’s all yours.”

“NO!” Jay desperately tried to scream, thrashing against the bonds, her ripped arm spitting blood. “NO! PLEASE! NO MORE! JUST LET ME DIEEEEE.” She couldn’t even cry because her eyes were too dry to secrete tears.

“Ah, ah, ah.” Black Hat bent over her, grinning. “Not quite yet, I’m afraid. Tell me, Miss Jay: Are you scared?”

She nodded frantically.

“Of course you are. Well, let’s cut to the chase then, shall we? I will ask you three questions. Just three. If you answer at least one of them correctly, your suffering will end. If not…” he flickered, for a split second becoming something more; something bigger, more monstrous, with flailing tendrils and gaping mouths full of teeth. Jay shrieked. Somewhere behind them, Dr Flug couldn’t stifle a moan.

“Question one:” Black Hat, humanoid again, took the notepad from the scientist’s hands and held it up for her to see. “What is written on this page?”

Jay couldn’t see; her vision was too blurry. She reflexively tried to blink but couldn’t. Just trying to focus hurt. She shook her head.

“No? How disappointing.” Black Hat handed the pad back to Flug. “Question two, then. How many teeth do you have?”

“I… I don’t know.” She moaned, tracing her tongue over the empty holes in her gums and trying to count them. She tasted blood. “I can’t…”

“The correct answer is ‘zero’, of course.” Flug’s voice mocked her. “I cannot believe that you were stupid enough not to think of that. May I ask the last question, sir?”

“Of course, dear Flug.” Black Hat took a step aside to allow his scientist to stand next to him. “Ask away.”

“Thank you, sir.” He beamed. “Question number three, Miss Jay. Your last chance. Earlier today you tried to persuade me to betray my boss. Why do you think I refused? ‘I don’t know’ is not an acceptable answer, by the way.”

Jay swallowed, futilely trying to focus on her tormentors. She tried to think; recall all that she knew about them; read their dynamic; make sense of their words…

“You… love him.” She choked out, more shocked than horrified. “You love him.”

Flug seemed to raise his eyebrows. “Correct.” He nodded.

“B…but why?” She didn’t understand. “He’s a monster! A villain! Li-like you said, he’s a… a monster! He’s… what do you see in him?”

Flug quirked his head at her as if he was confused. “Weren’t you paying attention to what I was saying?” He asked. “He’s an eldritch nightmare of shadow and terror capable of laying waste to entire planets with a flick of his hand. If you don’t think that that’s hotter than the core of a neutron star, then you have lousy standards.”

“Awww, Flug!” Black Hat pulled him into another kiss, this time hungrier; more passionate. “You will repeat these exact words to me later.” He said as he pulled away. “This is an order.”

The scientist gave him a sloppy salute. “Your command is my wish.” He said, sounding rather dazed. “I… I mean your wish is my command. Although I do wish for your co-commands too…” He licked the blood from his lower lip before turning back to Jay. “Now, about you…”

“You have answered one question correctly.” Black Hat announced officially. “I’ll have you know that I am many things: cruel, ruthless, vengeful, merciless…”

“Irresistible…” Flug whispered.

“…But I am a man of my word. Therefore, I shall keep my promise and end your suffering.”

If Jay could, she’d sob with joy.

“Buuuuuuuuuut…” A wicked grin stretched on the abomination’s face. “I didn’t say when I will do so.”

With that, he shed his humanoid form and Jay felt the pitiful remains of her sanity crumble into dust.

Then there was only pain.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, Flug sold his soul to Black Hat in return for eternal life. There were some little loopholes like still being vulnerable to physical attacks (see "Accidents Happen") but other than that the arrangement is mutually beneficial.
> 
> I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the headcanon that Flug is REALLY into the whole eldritch thing. Sorry, this is really self-indulgent.


End file.
